Device for adjusting and threading sewing-machine needles



(Model.)

A. BEOHTEL & A. BUGHER. DEVICE EDD ADJUSTING AND THREADING SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES.

No. 268,380. Patented Dec. 5, 1882.

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DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING AND THREADING SEWING-MACHINE NEEDLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 268,380, dated December 5, 1882.

Application filed August 21, 1882. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALBERT BECHTEL and AUGUST BUCHER, of Cleveland, in the county of Guyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and Improved Device for Adjusting and Threading Sewing-Machine Needles; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and complete description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

The purpose of this invention or attachment for sewing-machines is twofold, viz: for adjusting the needle in the needle-bar of the sewing-machine so that the loop formed for the shuttle may always be of the proper size for the passage of the shuttle and leaveno slack of the thread when the loop is drawn up to the cloth; and, furthermore, to prevent the thread from beingtoo tightly drawn, and therefore liable to break. The second purpose of this attachment is to thread the needle easily and expeditiously.

The following is a full and exact description of the invention. Forillustration reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of the attachment. Fig. 2 is a view of the back of the attachment. Fig. 3 is an edge view. Figs. 4,5, 6, 7, and 8 are views of the attachment in different positions. Figs. 9 and 10 are perspective views of the attachment.

Like letters of reference denote like parts.

As shown in the drawings, A is a plate, which may be of the shape shown, or any modification thereof that may be desirable. The

lower end of the plate terminates in a slitted point, B. Said slit extends upward in the end of the plate to a hole, 0, Fig. 6, and is of sufficient capacity to allow a thread to pass through it. At the upper end of the plate is a projecting lip, D, Figs. 1, 2, and3, forming a head to the plate. Immediately under the said lip and secured to the plate by a rivet, a, is a spring, E, the peculiar shape of which will be understood on examination of the drawings, in

whichi a, Fig. 1, represents an arm of the spring shown flatwise. An edge view of the same part tachment.

of the spring is shown in Figs. 3 and 7. From thelower end of said arm of the spring projects a point, I), Fig. 3, the purpose of which will presently be shown; also, to the lower end of this part a of the spring is secured one end of a loop, F, Fig. 5, forming a part of the spring-arm. Said loop extends around from the arm to the rear side of the plate, and ter minates near the hole 0 alluded to when the spring is in a certain position, as shown in Fig. 6, but covers the hole when the spring is in the position seen in Fig. 2, for a purpose hereinafter made known.

0, Figs. .1 and'5, is also an arm of the spring. Said arm, as will be seen in Fig. 5, has a return, d, which extends back beyond the central line of the plate, in which line is placed the needle G, as shown in the drawings. The needle is held in its central position on the plate by the return (1 of the arm 0 of the spring, which is in tactual relation therewith, and by its resiliency forces the needle hard upon the plate A, Fig. 5. The needle isprevented from lateral displacement by a nib, c, of the plate, which, with the lip D, above referred to, forms a slight groove for the upper end of the needle to lie in. The lower end of the needle is held in a groove made in the side of the plate, as seen in Fig. 3 at H, also in Fig. 5. Practically the operation of the above-described device is as follows:

It is an important matter in using a sewingmachine to guard against the needle carrying the thread so far through thecloth that on the return of the needle the thread will not be drawn tight; or, if the thread is not carried far enough through the cloth, the return of the needle will draw the same too tight, rendering it liable to break. Hence the needle must project from the needle-bar a definite distance. To determine this distance, and that it may be exactly the same each and every time the needle may be removed and returned to the bar is one purpose of the above-described at- To this end the needle is inserted under the arm 0 of the spring, and the point pushed down until the eye of the needle comes near the point b at the end of the arm a of the spring. The arm is then pushed in toward the needle-'thatis,from its position shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 1, this inward movement of the arm will drop the point I) of the .arm into the eye of the needle; or if not into the eye it will drop into the short groove extendingtherefrom, so that on moving the needle in either direction from the point, as the case may be, said point will drop into the'eye and willbe retained therein by the downward pressure of the arm of the spring, the construction of the spring being such as to cause the arm a to bend downward upon the needle while the arm is being pushed in to engage it. The tendency of the spring is against being pushed in toward the needle, and while'being so pushed in its tendency is downward upon the needle. Hence the spring has twoimpulses for actionone downward upon the needle and the other away therefrom, being partially prevented from the latter action by the point bin the'eye of the needle, as aforesaid. The needle thus secured in the plate is shown in Figs. 1 and 5, also in Fig. 3. In this position of the spring the hole 0 is covered by the end of the loop F, as in Fig. 2. The length of the needle downward from the projecting lip D is the exact distance the needle should project from the end of the needle'bar. The needle is now secured in the bar by inserting in the needle-bar that part of the needle projecting above the lip D. Said lip forms a gage for the adjustment ot' the needle. When the needle is secured in the needle-bar, which may be done in the usual way, the arm a of the spring is lifted by placing theforefinger upon the rest I and the thumb upon the loop F. On pressing the thumb and finger together, the arm a will be pushed outward from the needle, and the point withdrawn from the eye thereof. By virtue of the spring the arm will now move back and laterally away from the needle, being prevented from moving beyond the rest I by the body or flange m of the point I) catching upon the edge of a flange, n, Fig. 8, formed at the base of the rest, and over which the end "i, Fig. 5, of the arm slides while moving for the purpose above specified.

During the time the point I) is in the eye of the needle the upper bend, c, of the loop F embraces the edge of said flange 7t and holds the point Z) in the eye of, the needle, or assists in so doing, thereby relieving the point from most of the tension of the spring. The eye of the needle when filled with the point I) is in exact alignment with the hole 0. Hence, when the point is withdrawn from the eye of the needle the hole 0 is uncovered, (as seen in Fig. 6,) and the needle can then be threaded by inserting the thread in the countersunk hole 0, the eonverging sides of which will guide the thread to the eye of the needle, through which it may be pushed, which being done, the attachment is removed from the needle by pushing the arm a of the spring off from the needle, and then drawing the thread still in the eye of the needle through the slit 0 in the end of the plate. This second operationviz., threading the needle-is the second purpose of the invention, as above mentioned. The object in covering the hole 0 is to prevent any attempt at threading before the needle is in right position and the point I) out ot'the needle-eye. It also allows the needle to be so adjusted that it will always be in the right position for forming the loop for the pas age of the shuttle.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

For sewing-machines, an attachment consisting of a plate, A, provided with a projecting lip or head and a perforated slitted end rest and flange, n, spring E, having on the arm a thereof a point, I), and loop, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT BEOHTEL. AUGUST BUUHER. Witnesses:

W. H. BURRIDGE, J. H. BURRIDGE. 

